Providing perspective on the economics and politics of sports business in Florida...and the Rays' campaign for a new stadium in Tampa Bay.

Friday, January 29, 2010

St. Pete Ex-Communicates ABC Coalition

I apologize for not being more on-top of this story - been busy with a few investigations. But it's an interesting one, as the municipality that commissioned the ABC Coalition, St. Petersburg, has excommunicated it. Boy, I'll never miss an opportunity to work "excommunicate" into a blog post.

The whole "ABC Recommends Tampa" angle from other local media is blown out of proportion. The coalition didn't unleash any surprises in its final report. {Read it here} I still maintain, as I've said from the beginning, that the Rays will get a new stadium someday in Pinellas County's "Gateway" region near the bridges.

But here is another interesting article on how high-speed rail could affect the Rays' stadium bid. Even if The Trib's new Rays beat writer, Michael Sasso, implies the Indians still call Winter Haven their spring training home:

Mark Jackson of Winter Haven said the throng of Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers fans who attend spring training games in Polk County would travel to Rays games more often if a bullet train dropped them off at the stadium's doorstep.